A constituent’s attempt to ask U.S. Rep. Frank Guinta about his campaign finance issues during a town hall meeting at the Plaistow American Legion hall Monday was quickly cut off by the post commander.

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Commander David Meaney told the woman no “political” questions would be allowed because the American Legion is a non-political organization and he did not want to risk having his post lose its charter.

The woman, who declined to give her name to WMUR, began to query Guinta about the congressman’s recently signed conciliation agreement with the Federal Election Commission, which had found that the congressman illegally took excessive campaign finance contributions from his an account in his parents’ names.

“Ma’am, ma’am, you cannot discuss that here,” Meaney immediately told her. “We have a federal charter here and I ask the congressman not to answer that question. I will lose my license, my liquor license, the whole nine yards.”

“Then why did we hold an event in here?” the woman asked. “He’s a political figure.”

“As long as he stays bipartisan,” Meaney answered. “He can’t get partisan.”

Another woman interjected: “I came to ask Mr. Guinta a question. I didn’t come to listen to people arguing. He’s doing a wonderful job in Congress for us.”

Guinta, who has ignored calls by top Republicans to resign, said nothing during the exchange. He later told WMUR that he did not ask Meaney to ban “political” questions and was surprised when Meaney cut off the questioner.

He has said that the money, which he loaned his 2010 campaign, came from a “family pot” account. He has maintained he acted legally because he personally contributed more to the family account than he received in checks written by his mother and father.

But Guinta paid a $15,000 fine and agreed to return the $355,000 he had received.

Guinta has been trying to weather the controversy while by focusing on the issues before Congress. That’s what he did in his second town hall meeting since the campaign finance controversy became public in May. It was the 10th town hall he has held since he took office in January.

Before the meeting, when WMUR tried to question two men in the audience about Guinta’s FEC troubles, one of them identified himself as Meaney, the post commander, and told a reporter that “politics” could not be addressed at the meeting.

Guinta spoke for nearly a half-an-hour before taking questions. He touched on his support for the Veterans Choice card program and said he is sponsoring legislation aimed at preventing duplicative laws from being passed.

He criticized the 40-hour work seek requirement of the Affordable Care Act and proposed repealing the so-called “Cadillac Tax.” He also addressed his efforts to protect the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard from closure. He said he has been meeting with local officials in his district about a need for a coordinated effort to combat the heroin epidemic.

Guinta also answered a four questions from audience members. He said he has grave concerns about the Obama administration’s nuclear deal with Iran. He said a short-term solution for rising college loan costs would be to allow those loans to be refinanced. He said New Hampshire’s business taxes are a disincentive to economic growth in the state. And he had a discussion with a former staffer of former U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter about the need to end the budget sequester.

The woman who tried to ask the campaign finance question said after the meeting she “intended no disruption.”

Others at the meeting noted that political candidates, including presidential hopefuls, regularly hold town halls and campaign events at veterans organizations’ facilities. Meaney said they should not be allowed to do so.

Guinta said in the interview after the meeting that the FEC matter “obviously had some impact” on his poor fundraising totals for the second quarter.

His campaign committee’s quarterly report showed total contributions during the April 1 to June 30 period of $113,679, which was about one-third of his contributions total of $316,706 for the first quarter, Jan. 1 to March 31.

Contributions to Guinta by individual donors during the second quarter totaled $11,679 from 16 people, compared to $134,054 from 105 people during the first quarter. Political action committee contributions, however, were $102,000 in the second quarter and $182,652 in the first quarter.

“I’m focused on the issues I needed to focus on legislatively during (the second quarter),” Guinta told WMUR. “That’s obviously where my focus ended up. This obviously had some impact on it and what I focus on is moving forward, representing people the way I should be and dealing with the legislative issues.

“The political side will take care of itself,” Guinta said.

Guinta was asked whether his fundraising has influenced him as he considers whether to seek reelection in 2016.

“For me, nothing has changed,” he said. “I remain focused on my job. Any announcement on that would come next year, but nothing has changed.”

Guinta said the town hall showed that “most people want to focus on the issues. I think that’s why people elected me, to focus on the issues that directly affect families in New Hampshire. So, the political stuff, I’m a big boy. I can handle it. And that stuff will take care of itself.”

“I’ve always done town halls,” Guinta said. “I’ll continue to do town halls because it’s important to see people directly and what they are going through. I enjoy it and I’ll continue to do it.”

Guinta also said he has not spoken to anyone from the U.S. Attorney’s Office about the FEC matter. WMUR reported in early June that Acting U.S. Attorney Donald Feith said his office would review the FEC’s findings.